wfn.org | ELCA conference addresses cycles of violence against women

[franki@elca.org]

       and children

TECHNY, Illinois, USA/GENEVA, 26 October 2000 (ELCANEWS/LWI) -
Violence against women and children as a "universal" problem was
addressed by 45 women from around the world gathered in Illinois for
"Breaking the Silence: No More Violence Against Women and Children in
the Church."

Hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)'s
Commission for Women, "Breaking the Silence" offered an opportunity
for women to learn ways of reducing violence and sexual abuse against
women and girls.

Though culture made this a difficult subject for some, all
acknowledged at least an awareness of the problems of violence in
their respective countries. Ms. Priscilla Singh, a keynote speaker at
the September 14 to 22 conference, presented a paper on "Cycles of
Violence From the Global to the Local". Singh is secretary for Women
in Church and Society (WICAS) at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for Mission and Development (DMD) in Geneva, Switzerland.

In her paper Singh shared insights on violence against women and
children from a global perspective. "Many men and some women would
accept only physical violence as violence, and would not want to put
it on par with psychological violence. "The term 'violence against
women' is explained in the following way: Any act of gender-based
violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual
or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of
such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or private life," said Singh, quoting a passage
from the Beijing Platform for Action: Fourth World Conference on
Women.

"Violence against women is not a linear process that gets worse and
worse. It is not even a cycle that comes and goes and comes back
again to haunt. It is like a tornado or twister that gathers momentum
as it builds up a destructive power and sucks up the person and those
around her in its vortex and then throws them around battered,
disoriented, deprived and at times irrevocably lost for life," she
said.

"Violence is perpetrated by and experienced by men, women and
children and always results in injury to human relationships.
Violence may be physical, sexual, psychological or economic. Violence
is most likely to occur to those with less power in society,
including the differently-abled, sexual minorities, the elderly,
cultural minorities, etc.," according to a message to the LWF
churches written by the women during the conference. "We recognize
that these types of violence occur not just in one cycle but a
complicated intersection of many. The violence increases with the
layering of one cycle over another. These cycles of violence occur
within domestic, institutional, religious, national and global
contexts," it stated.

The message offered suggestions on how churches can provide
assistance to victims of violence and create safe environments to
prevent violence. These included provision of services such as
shelters, hotlines, short-term economic assistance and counseling;
equipping bishops, pastors, church staff and volunteers to respond
appropriately when violence is disclosed and educating and empowering
women and girls so that the cycles that may lead to violence-such as
unemployment, poverty, cultural expectations and addictions-are
broken.

The message continued: "The LWF and its member churches are
international leaders in addressing disaster throughout the world. We
are skilled at mobilizing the necessary resources to handle immediate
needs, to address root causes and facilitate long term development.
We call upon the Lutheran communion to use these skills and resources
to address the disaster of violence against women and children."

"We affirm the actions of member churches, institutions, parishes and
leaders that have begun to address this difficult work. But given the
magnitude of the violence, the Lutheran communion must increase its
response by working in partnership with other agencies and
organizations and allocating ample resources for both immediate
response and long-term prevention," the message stated.

Workshops at the conference focused on the churches' response to
sexual abuse and violence against women, clergy sexual abuse,
initiatives against child prostitution, violence and the power of
language, and violence in silent poverty and war against women and
children in Sierra Leone.

The four-day conference also offered worship, Bible study, cultural
evening events, plenaries and "home group" sessions. The "home group"
sessions, closed to invited press for purposes of privacy and
confidentiality for participants, enabled the women to have a
'safe-place' where they could speak openly about issues concerning
themselves personally or relating to where they come from.

A visit to the Chicago Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence offered
participants insight to the city's progress and programs that deal
with domestic violence.

"Breaking the Silence" was jointly funded by the LWF, ELCA Commission
for Women, Women of the ELCA and by the World Council of Churches.

(The LWF is a global communion of 131 member churches in 72 countries
representing over 59 million of the world's 63 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held normally every six
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of
its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the
notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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